Two Coquitlam elementary schools are back under Fraser Health investigation after being flagged for COVID-19 exposures.
Smiling Creek, which had previously reported an exposure Oct. 16, has been flagged for another on Nov. 2; and Mundy Road elementary, which reported its first exposure Oct. 8 and its second exposures Oct. 16, 20, 21 and 22, has now been flagged for a third time for an exposure on Oct. 29.
Fraser Health has yet to update its portal in the case of the latest Mundy Road elementary, however, SD43 has flagged the exposure on its Facebook page and copies of the “early notification letter” have been shared by parents on a crowd-sourced school exposure page.
There have been 34 exposures across 27 SD43 facilities since the start of the school year. Nine of those are under active investigation.
Neither Fraser Health nor School District 43 release information on the nature of the exposures, including whether a student, visitor or staff member is involved in the contact tracing investigation.
According to Fraser Health, a school “exposure” indicates a single person with a lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection attended school during their infectious period.
A school “cluster,” on the other hand, indicates possible school-based transmission with two or more lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 attending school while infectious.
Finally, an “outbreak” at a school means “multiple individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection” and that “transmission is likely widespread.”
Of the more than two dozen exposure events across Tri-City schools, none have been linked to a cluster or outbreak. Earlier this week, Fraser Health deputy medical health officer Dr. Elizabeth Brodkin told the Tri-City News the numbers reflect circulation of the virus in the community.
On Friday, Nov. 6, for example, a record-breaking new 589 cases were reported, of which 68% came from Fraser Health, which stretches form Boston Bar to Burnaby and includes such urban centres at the Tri-Cities, Surrey and Langley.
Still, the exposure numbers haven’t resulted in changes to school protocols.
“We have no plans to close our schools,” Brodkin said, adding: “I want to remind everyone that schools are relatively safe places in the scheme of things.
“Transmission is less likely to take place in the school setting than in other settings, and there are good public safety plans in place, which have helped to keep the students and their families and the teachers safe.”
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has scheduled an unusual Saturday afternoon update on the status of the pandemic.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Smiling Creek had reported COVID-19 exposures Oct. 15 and 16. In fact, the school had previously reported single-day an exposure Oct. 16.
